Fonds F3244 - Arne Nielsen fonds

Arne Nielsen, 1925-2013, was born on a farm near Standard, Alberta of Danish settlers, Aksel and Marie Nielsen. After years on the farm he joined the Canadian Army where he was in the tank corps. He attended the University of Alberta and received his BSc and MSc in geology and commenced working in the oil and gas industry. Arne was credited with leading the teams that discovered some of the largest fields in Western Canada (including the Pembina Oilfield), offshore Canada and the Gulf of Mexico. He was the CEO of a number of corporations including Mobil Oil Canada, Canadian Superior Oil, Poco Petroleums and Shiningbank Energy. He served as a director for various organizations including The Toronto-Dominion Bank, Aetna Insurance, Vaalco, Rockwell International Canada, Phillips Cable and many small oil and gas corporations.

Arne acted as Chairman of the Canadian Petroleum Association on two occasions including leading the industry response to the National Energy Program. He was inducted into the Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame in 1998 and received an honourary PhD from the University of Alberta. Arne acted as Consul in Alberta for the Danish Government for many years. In his eighties Arne wrote a book "We Gambled Everything" about the oil and gas industry. Arne married Evelyn and they had 9 children including Harry, Aksel, Paul (Jan), Garry (Catherine), Robin, Brian, Kent, Allan (Margaret) and Dianne. He later married Valerie.